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Mercury thiocyanide {wiki} is the chemical once used in the fireworks called "snakes". Burning it produces poisonous mercury vapors. So don't try this at home! -via the Presurfer

Research on the "geography of personality" finds that certain regions of the US correlate with certain personality traits. Some of these traits feed into stereotypes; others don't.

Even after controlling for variables such as race, income and education levels, a state's dominant personality turns out to be strongly linked to certain outcomes. Amiable states, like Minnesota, tend to be lower in crime. Dutiful states -- an eclectic bunch that includes New Mexico, North Carolina and Utah -- produce a disproportionate share of mathematicians. States that rank high in openness to new ideas are quite creative, as measured by per-capita patent production. But they're also high-crime and a bit aloof. Apparently, Californians don't much like socializing, the research suggests.

The study did not control for how long a person lived in their current state. It also did not find out why personality traits congregate the way they do. Is it something about the region itself, or the genes of the people born there? Can you "catch" certain traits by moving to a new state? My home state of Kentucky is only ranked high for neuroticism. The Wall Street Journal article includes an interactive map where you can look up your state's personality traits. Link -Thanks, christophe!

Travel through the Gobi desert in Mongolia, and you might have an opportunity to stay at the Three Camel Lodge. You will stay in one of thirty gers (tents) made of felt and wood, and pay only around $300 a night. This is one of 10 Seriously Unusual & Outlandishly Weird Asian Hotels. Link -Thanks, Andy!

If you liked Olle Hemmendorff's kitchen floor, you'll love this! Charlie Kratzer of Lexington, Kentucky wanted something a little snazzier than bare cream-colored walls in his basement rec room. So he went to work with Sharpies and Magic Markers and doodled his masterpiece.

There are fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, Winston Churchill lounging with George Bernard Shaw — and the TV squirrel Rocky and his less adroit moose pal Bullwinkle.

Says Kratzer of his cartoon of a cartoon: "You appreciate the cleverness more as an adult."

There's Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. There is Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and the Cornell Law School, of which Kratzer is an alumnus. There is Kratzer's dad. There is the harlequin pattern — alluded to in culinary culture today by the Panera bread bag — and a fake fireplace facing a real one.

There are both The Walrus and the Carpenter (from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There), and William Shakespeare. The Marx Brothers peer around a corner. A flip-top garbage can is transformed via marker art into Star Wars' plucky little beeper R2D2.

The Herald-Leader has a 360 degree panorama of the finished basement. Link -via reddit

Neatorama posted the story of Wendy the Service Cat in January. She is the companion of disabled veteran Jeffrey Ward. Here is a sad update to the story: Saturday night, Wendy didn't come home from a bathroom break. Ward found her injured in front of a nearby building.

X-rays showed both pelvic bones were broken - injuries veterinarian John Bevan says are consistent with being kicked or stepped on.

Surgery was performed Monday and a second is scheduled for Tuesday.

"We did a plate and about six screws on the left side, tomorrow we'll repair it with a screw and a pin," said Dr. Bevan.

Ward says he can't allow himself think of the person who did this to Wendy.

"The very thing that helps me cope with confrontation is now the one thing someone's taken away," said Ward.

Dr. Bevan says that Wendy should recover with a couple of month's therapy, but may be left with arthritis. There will be a fundraiser for medical expenses Wednesday at the Third Base bar and grill in Austin, Texas. Link -Thanks, Kimi!

Update: I heard back from the Central Texas Veterinary Specialty Hospital. They told me that Wendy's medical bill has been paid in full, thanks to generous donors. If you want to donate to other animals who need care, you can contact them through their website.

Wayne Martin Belger makes his own pinhole cameras. Each camera is its own work of art! Cameras are designed to photograph different subjects, and often incorporate the subject in the materials. Some can seem gruesome, containing blood, bone, or other biological relics. This camera is named Sons of Abraham (9/11) and is made from

...a solid block 6061 T6 Aircraft Aluminium inlayed with a piece of the Bible from 1860, a piece of the Koran from1960 and a piece of the Torah from 1880. The jagged piece of metal in the front of the camera with the pinhole in it was once part of a support beam holding up the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

http://www.boyofblue.com/cameras.html -Thanks, Jon Jason!

The Crown Estate of England has made arrangements to purchase the world's largest wind turbine.

It's a 7.5-megawatt monster to be built by Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, Calif. Now the Royal Turbine is getting even bigger: Clipper has revealed to Fortune that Her Majesty's windmill has been supersized to ten megawatts, producing five times the power generated by typical big turbines currently in commercial operation. The giant's wingspan stretches the length of two soccer fields. At 574 feet, the turbine soars over Big Ben and roughly equals 111 Queen Elizabeths (the actual queen) plus one corgi stacked on top of one another.

The turbine is expected to be anchored offshore and put into use in 2012, when it will have the capability to power 3,700 homes. Link -Thanks, bob!

Facebook and Twitter help you keep track of every move made by your friends. But is this a good use of your time? ABC News talked to Clive Thompson, who wrote about the phenomena for the New York Times, what he calls "ambient awareness". Link to segment. Link to entire webcast. Link to New York Times article.

Chester A. Arthur was the underrated 21st president of the United States. You you know anything about him? You would if you read the mental_floss article about him Satturday! Now he's the subject of today's Lunchtime Quiz. I aced it, because I read something on him over the weekend. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/18591

Seeing a toddler ski is precious, but this kid is serious! 2-year-old Gustav Legnavsky of Wanaka, New Zealand will compete in the halfpipe event at the junior nationals next week. He will be the youngest skier at the competition.

At an age when most children are putting their parents through the terrible 2s, Gustav is instead taking on the 5.7m-high walls of the Cardrona superpipe.

His parents, Pete and Bridget, said the super active toddler had a sports box at home, rather than the average toddler's toy box.

He can already ride a bike - without trainer wheels - has his own skateboard, likes to roller-blade around the house, and plays golf.

"He's not a uniquely talented kid or anything," Mrs Legnavsky claims.

She puts Gustav's development and early interest in skiing down to the "interesting lifestyle" the family leads, which gives him opportunities many other children do not have.

Gustav's father is a ski coach and his mother is the manager of a ski field. Link -via Fark

(image credit: Jan Vokaty)

Stretch limousines are nothing to write home about anymore. So limousines services are going the extra mile to stand out. Dark Roasted Blend takes a look at some of the crazier limousines, with a peek inside some. Yes, this one is a Corvette. Link

As new words are included in dictionaries, old words are sometimes dropped, not for room, but because they are no longer in use. Compilers of the Collins Dictionary have a list of words they are considering dropping from the new edition.

Dictionary compilers at Collins have decided that the word list for the forthcoming edition of its largest volume is embrangled with words so obscure that they are linguistic recrement. Such words, they say, must be exuviated abstergently to make room for modern additions that will act as a roborant for the book.

Readers who vilipend the compilers’ decision and vaticinate that society will be poorer without little-used words have been offered a chance to save them from the endangered list Collins, which is owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, has agreed that words will be granted a reprieve if evidence of their popularity emerges before February, when the word list is finalised.

Did you understand that? If so, you may want to vote on your favorite words to keep in the dictionary. Link -Thanks, Jayne Howley!

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You might think the earth is big, but watching this may make you feel small! The music is Rubber Bullet by Stakka and K Tee. -via Digg

If you want to visit a ghost town for Halloween, make your plans now! Cult Case has an overview of seven of them, including Helltown, Ohio.

Also known as Boston, Ohio, many ghostly encounters have been reported in the cemetery and other sites located within the boundaries of the township. Satanists would sacrifice animals in an old Presbyterian Church off of Boston Mills Road, just to make it that much creepier. One of the many rumors that have been tossed around report a chemical spill, which lead to a huge python wandering around the woods of the area.

Link -Thanks, Jon Jason!

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Paul Otlet {wiki} was a visionary who specialized in documentation and information organization. The ideas he laid out in 1934 eventually became what we call the internet. -via reddit